Under the Funnel: Keeping Regular Customers Interested

funnelYou’ve hooked a regular clientele with your savvy marketing campaigns and your useful products and services. Now that you have them, you want to keep them. In this Groupon world where everyone is looking for the next great deal, you need to plan out your content to keep drawing in new clients, while you protect your growing relationship with your loyal customers.

Find the Real Bottom of the Sales Process

There is so much analysis out there about where in the funnel you should position the meat of your marketing strategy. At first, your marketing campaign from business plan writers for hire has you building your first client base. A few months or years in, and now what? Experts tell you to aim for the top of the funnel, so you can continue to draw in new prospects. They say to boost your content in the middle or bottom of the funnel, so that you can help people who are still making that crucial final decision. Alas, too many people worry so much about where to place the content in the funnel that they forget about the people under the funnel. These are your customers who have already chosen your business at least once. Don’t spend all of your time and money focusing on the funnel cloud. Under the tornado is where all the big stuff happens anyway.

Keep It Coming

It truly is a Groupon world, for businesses as well as customers. You put a big coupon on social media for first-time buyers. Once you get them to open their wallets, what can you do to make them stick around? Many buyers will return to your products or services if they feel like they are getting a great value. However, if you save your best deals for your newest customers, your current, loyal ones are going to feel like they are getting the Groupon treatment, too. Make sure that you boost their spirits with occasional discounts that are targeted just to people who are on your email list or who follow you on social media.

Build a Relationship

Beyond just giving your repeat customers a little extra something when they come in, you want to give the sense that you value them as more than just walking wallets. Take an interest in their lives.  Invest the time to get to know them a little bit. Calling them by name when they walk in the door goes a long way toward making someone feel at home in your business. Send out a regular email newsletter, or create a special coupon code or deal for them on their birthdays. When they feel like a part of your family, they will contribute to your business by acting as free positive advertising for you.

It takes so little, and gives back so much, to pay attention to your existing customer base. They want to continue to buy from you, and so you should take the time to make it worth their while. It is a considerate thing to do and makes for a wise return on your investment.

holly sHolly S is a writer who loves to turn readers into loyal customers.